TheMReport — News and strategies for the evolving mortgage marketplace.
Issue link: http://digital.themreport.com/i/94724
THE LATEST SERVICING tive as "another significant step forward in our ongoing efforts to restore confidence in the mortgage servicing industry" and commend- ed Wells Fargo's more than 1,000 team members who worked to put the new standards in place. According to spokeswoman tions VP for Wells Fargo, said, "[A]s of October 2, Wells Fargo has implemented all of the 320 servicing standards required under the national mortgage settlement." She characterized the initia- Susan Fitzpatrick, Ally's GMAC Mortgage unit "is working closely with the Office of Mortgage Settlement Oversight to ensure compliance with all aspects of the settlement." Fitzpatrick noted that compliance is "subject to internal and external independent valida- tion." Joseph A. Smith Jr., the Deadline Arrives to Adopt T Department of Justice and 49 state attorneys general calls for reforming mortgage servicing practices with the implementa- tion of more than 300 stan- dards—standards that address such areas as borrower commu- nication, single point of contact, training for loss mitigation staff, and document execution related to foreclosure actions. As described by the attor- he settlement struck between the nation's five largest mortgage servicers and the U.S. neys generals' own negotiating committee, the banks must "accomplish a massive undertak- ing" to put all the servicing stan- dards into practice and achieve the "major reforms" ordered under the agreement. The banks—Ally, Bank of designated settlement monitor charged with ensuring all of the banks comply with the terms of the agreement, issued a statement acknowledging the October 2 deadline for standards adoption. "As of today, the five banks Servicing Standards As per the terms of the national mortgage settlement, the country's major servicers implement the 300-plus required standards. America, Citi, JPMorgan Chase, and Wells Fargo—were given 180 days from the date the settlement was approved by a federal judge (April 5, 2012) to make the changes and be in full compliance with the new servicing standards. Their deadline was October 2, 2012. Amy Bonitatibus, a spokes- woman for JPMorgan Chase, told MReport recently, "We met all the 320 servicing standards as mous effort," noting that "the standards cover all aspects of the servicing business, [including] single point of contact, customer service, loss mitigation, anti-blight, and tenants' rights." Jumana Bauwens, a spokeswom- outlined in the national mortgage settlement." She described it as "an enor- an for Bank of America, said her organization also "met all servicing standards requirements on time and will meet remaining require- ments under the settlement." Mark Rodgers with Citi said Vickee Adams, a communica- vicers are adhering to the servicing standards, the settlement directs Smith to use a series of 29 defined metrics associated with such offenses as erroneous foreclosure sales, wrongful mod denials, and fraudulent affidavits. Smith plans to evaluate the third-quarter and fourth-quarter performance of each servicer against all 29 metrics be- ginning in the first quarter of 2013. "While my team and I will subject to the settlement are re- quired to operate in full compli- ance with its servicing standards," Smith said. "I will conduct care- ful and thorough reviews of the banks' processes to assure and verify that they are compliant with the settlement's rules." In assessing how well the ser- work to review the banks' compli- ance ourselves, I also need to hear from consumer professionals in the marketplace who work on these issues day in and day out, his company's mortgage servicing department is also in compliance. said. "I am asking these profession- als to report to me when they see a mortgage servicer breaking the rules established in the settlement." " Smith THE M REPORT | 51 ORIGINATION SERVICING ANALYTICS SECONDARY MARKET